• brbposting@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      19·
      5 months ago

      It’s funny how as soon as something is either invisible or disconnected by time from something else, it suddenly is a matter of belief for some people.

      I’m glad we don’t hear debates about whether it is possible for an internal combustion engine to power a motor vehicle at highway speeds.

      • marcos@lemmy.world
        8·
        5 months ago

        I really getting with “oh, you believe gasoline can power cars?!?” next time I meed a true believer.

        • aname@lemmy.one
          8·
          5 months ago

          You think Hoover dam was built by humans?? No-one can build anything that big. The architects were helped by aliens.

          Structure of that size placed so precisely that it happens to form an artificial lake and produce electricity?

          Besides Hoover dam is a single structure. No seams or parts. What factory can produce a mold that big let alone move it across from factory to the river. There are no trucks that big.

          Aliens

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
    31·
    5 months ago

    Unlike with gasoline, the ember of a cigarette is hot enough to ignite propane. However it’s denser than air and would need to have a pressure valve actively leaking to create enough concentration to be dangerous

  • OmnislashIsACloudApp@lemmy.world
    27·
    5 months ago

    so I actually had a friend years back who worked at a junkyard.

    I was hanging out there with him one time (definitely probably not smoking anything…) and he was still clearing things out.

    so he grabs a propane tank and brings it up to where he has an oxyacetylin torch, lights the torch and starts cutting into the tank.

    I about shit my pants and took off at least 50 ft back behind a car asking if he was trying to die today.

    apparently I was the one that didn’t know what I was talking about though because of a second later he cut through and it just popped a little flame.

    he just let that flame burn until it was out and that’s how he knew the tank was empty.

    apparently these things are very hard to blow up.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
      15·
      5 months ago

      They don’t blow up, but they will create a bigass torch that will spin them around some. You’re not getting blown into pieces, but you’re going to be going into the er with some bbq’d body parts.

    • rcbrk@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      5 months ago

      Yeah nah, that’s not the way. Sure people can get away with it, but it’s really not eliminating the hazards.

      There’s a bunch of non-obvious hazards which exist around cutting into containers which have held fuels, including but not limited to:

      • An empty propane container could have an gas+air mixture inside it in proportions which could explode.
      • Any liquid residue in an empty fuel container can be vapourised by the heat of the cutting, creating a fuel+air mix which can spontaneously explode from the pressure and heat, even without sparks (think: diesel engine principle but instead of a 0.25L cylinder it’s a 200L cylinder).
      • An empty gas canister can be contaminated with heavier oils/waxes that could build up over the years of refilling cycles, creating the same hazard as noted for empty liquid fuel containers.

      Methods to reduce the hazard include:

      • Thoroughly washing the inside of the container before cutting (access can be difficult though).
      • Filling with water and cutting while full of water. (Container musn’t be sealed, and the cutting method must be safe to use in a wet environment, and further hazards such as introducing oxygen into the container need to be considered).
    • Tja@programming.dev
      3·
      5 months ago

      Because the tank was almost empty. Who knows what happens if it’s full, or overpressured, or corroded or something. Hiding behind a solid object would be my move as well.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
      1·
      5 months ago

      Pressurised gas is a different story, and liquid pressurised gas is even worse still.

      Basically a bomb if they are in a fire.

      • OmnislashIsACloudApp@lemmy.world
        1·
        5 months ago

        yeah this will work but you basically have to create a fire around the tank while keeping it pressurized right? you have to bring the whole tank to the point where it overwhelms the relief valve.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
          1·
          5 months ago

          Yup. I’ve seen news footage of fuel depot fires where they had them stored, and you can hear them popping off like firecrackers.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
    4·
    5 months ago

    She’s already occupying more space than most people. Soon she’ll occupy as much space as some people from the middle east have over the years. Can she occupy more space than a re-entry sort of volume expansion event? The world may one day know.